Got screwed over for a promotion and Im depressed

[Indydriver]

Realize that corporate America is FULL of lousy managers. I saw them ruin a really great company I gave 25 years to. But, as a former hiring manager, you have to do what you have to do to get new talent onboard. The new guy may not know as much as you today but he is smart enough to hold out for a better offer than your position while you have agreed to undervalue your services, or so you say. The fact that you weren’t qualified for the position then expected the company to alter their hiring plans to accommodate your shortcomings is an insight into your very poor understanding of how things work in a corporate setting. You can count on the fact that your poor driving record has been discussed by your superiors on more than one occasion. “if only Colton had...”.

When an employee came to me to grouse about their situation, I had a standard response. Why don’t you do something about it? Either make yourself more valuable where you are or go out into the big bad world and prove what you think you are worth. If you truly are more valuable than your current position and you let a company take advantage of you, well, the company is just doing its job of getting the best talent available at the lowest possible cost. You have no one to blame but yourself and pouting yourself into a dismissal again shows your immaturity. I’d fire you too.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
To echo what was said about not getting fired, perhaps use this time to find another job? It's easier to look for a job while having a job than the other way around.. Surely there's a similar gig in town?

Lastly, not to be a jerk, but your boss had a point about speeding tickets. I am just curious how they knew.

Also, don't just quit your job regardless of how fed up you are. That looks horrible in so many ways.

I have to sign paperwork giving them permission to pull my record. Its part of the job. They have to insure me to drive their 19k lb service trucks, they have a right to know.
And Im not disputing they are right about it, what hurts is they were not loyal enough to wait two flippin weeks for me to be clean, re-request my record and then I would have it.
If I still had another year or even a month, because they are looking at the busy summer season and I understand the business need, then I wouldnt have made this post.
FWIW they still havent sent him to the training required of new techs down in San diego, so its not like hes in a truck already. It would have been a faster option to have me, since I could be in one as soon as my record comes back. So like Wednesday of next week.

And no, I think I will have to go to another town to get similar work. My town is only 18k people. They have all the business if your want serious construction equipment here. We just put a Genie SX-180 on rent for two weeks.. The local Mom and pops cant afford a half million dollar machine to send it out once a year.



Then you may have to commute. No big deal.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
I was told I'd have to have a clean record to get the Tech II. Which I have today. When I told him when it was dropping off I was then told a year or so. Im not holding my breath for that. We are full up on techs. Someone above me will have to leave or quit for me to get II.


They were or are stringing you along. "Yeah we'll get you that promotion... in a year." The problem is, you have already proven to these guys that you're soft/ gullible/ whatever and you will never get the respect in your current job you think you deserve. Raises will be below market. The only way to move up is to move laterally, which you might as well get on, now, in this tight job market.

Also if they brought a new guy in and you can't see why his position was created... someone's about to get fired. If you trained him, look out.

PS you also need to get over your envy... watching him fumble with a choke switch and saying, man, that guy's an idiot, is just eating you up inside and not affecting anyone else. You're getting mired in details and this is a mental thing that's on you to deal with.

 

[onetwoothreee]

Hi, I'm his boss and I got fired. I'm such an idiot.

 

[onetwoothreee]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
You're right. I will have to think about this during the weekend and come to a decision. If I do Im just gonna pick up my toolbox on Monday and that will be that. I know thats 'bad' but I know I wont make two weeks without [censored] them off from absenteeism. I already barely care, adding a D-Day to the mix will just make it so much worse.

You don't want to try and work it out?

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: Indydriver
Realize that corporate America is FULL of lousy managers. I saw them ruin a really great company I gave 25 years to. But, as a former hiring manager, you have to do what you have to do to get new talent onboard. The new guy may not know as much as you today but he is smart enough to hold out for a better offer than your position while you have agreed to undervalue your services, or so you say. The fact that you weren’t qualified for the position then expected the company to alter their hiring plans to accommodate your shortcomings is an insight into your very poor understanding of how things work in a corporate setting. You can count on the fact that your poor driving record has been discussed by your superiors on more than one occasion. “if only Colton had...”.

When an employee came to me to grouse about their situation, I had a standard response. Why don’t you do something about it? Either make yourself more valuable where you are or go out into the big bad world and prove what you think you are worth. If you truly are more valuable than your current position and you let a company take advantage of you, well, the company is just doing its job of getting the best talent available at the lowest possible cost. You have no one to blame but yourself and pouting yourself into a dismissal again shows your immaturity. I’d fire you too.


Thanks a lot that really helps /s
You're right, I have undervalued myself. Not a lot I can do. Places want 5 years or more of experience for getting into the positions I feel Im capable of. I dont have that on my resume. What part of that didnt you understand. If youre a big shot hiring manager you know the requirements for job postings. They wont even look at it beyond a glance. I know cause Ive sent in stuff to get no response back so many times. The only way I can get experience to show is to work from the bottom.
Im also very anxious and have a extremely difficult time in interviews. Im so terrified of making a fool of myself thats what I end up doing.
The only way Ive been able to get jobs is to land at a place through a temp recruitment agency, since they dont care a whole [censored] of a lot about who they are hiring as long as you are not a felon.
I put in my resume for this job Thurs evening. The woman called Friday Morn, asked super basic questions, walked me though filling out the forms on the site and I started the next Monday. Once I get comfortable around people is when I can stat doing interviews and stuff.
I guess I was under estimating their ability to change their hiring plans. Pardon me for thinking there was some humanity in it. It wont happen again. I might have had a poor insight before but I didnt come out of the womb a [censored] hiring manager, like you.
Thanks for the coldness. Youve pretty much convinced me that Im not fit for anything. Im gonna get my tools in the morning and that will be that. I dont know what Im gonna do, or even if I am gonna do anything for the forseeable future.

 

[onetwoothreee]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Its embarrassing. There is a huge risk some rando customer he goes to at some point will know more than he does. Its also bad for him, 'cause they are gonna want something from him that...hes not capable of and is gonna struggle at.

You might be right. You aren't upset that you can't do the job. You're upset other people don't want you to do it. Which isn't true. Let the new guy [censored] up a few times and watch him get fired. Be the hero.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

The OPer should not be surprised if he's on the boss' "shoot" list because he showed him up by getting the big piece of equipment online.
If word got out that this tech got something running when the boss couldn't do it, then the boss looks bad and he won't forget that...the politic way to do it is let the boss know the thing is fixed before anybody else knows and then work out a way that both of you get credit.

Sorry for the OPer's situation, I had something similar happen to me when I worked like a dog on successful projects for three years only to see the boss' little buddy who had been there less than a year get the promotion. Our technical manager called me into his office and told me it was one of the worst decisions he had seen, but he couldn't change things because he wasn't actually in our org chart (more of a consulting expert). I let my boss know I wasn't happy and started interviewing immediately, but I kept working hard in the meantime. Took me a year to find a good position and gave my notice about a week after my promotion came through...sorry, too late. Worked out great for me because I moved to a part of the country I liked a lot better and that position led to another one where I ended up making a big pile of money on stock options and bonuses, some years were 6X what I made at the old job. My old company ended up faltering badly and is a sad shell of what it used to be...

OPer, try to get fired up and look out for your best interests. Do your job but look for something better the whole time...the only one who's going to advocate for you is you.

 

[hatt]

Keep current job. Look for new job. Find job. Quit old job.

 

[Shannow]

Globally they "overfired" during the GFC..because they could.

Those who were left just sucked it up because they still had a job.

Now are seen as staid and not dynamic.

 

[ChevyMan93]

Not that i personally was going to get promoted or anything, but where i work, the dumb ones are the ones who get promoted. They literally pick the bottom of the barrel every single time, i think its strategic to always surround themselves with people who are more dumb than they are. I think it should be the other way around, treat people with dignity, and surround yourself with smart people who actually know what they are doing, and they will make you look good. But like has been said here, either pack your stuff and quit, and tell them to kiss your butt on the way out, or suck it up and continue to kick [censored] and take names, no matter if they appreciate it or not. Personally, if i had the money saved back for a few paychecks, and the time, by god i would be tellin em to shove it where the sun dont shine and id be going to find a place where ill be appreciated. Good luck, and always know you at least have a whole forum behind you!

 

[Bobaloo22]

I agree with what hatt said, hey man life is short and we've all been in your shoes in one way or another. When you find the new job you won't believe the difference your life will take. Good Luck and don't just give up.

Bob

 

[racin4ds]

Chin up buttercup!!! I think we've all been there before. It sucks, I'll totally agree but for me, I had a family and two kids to support so I went on to find another job which turned out for the better!!! It does hurt and makes you feel angry and useless but you KNOW you're better than that!

I was at a company for 8 years, military sub-contract stuff. Started at the bottom as a tech, learned to do the field training and maint. on the antennas and such then moved up to asst production manager and also handled purchasing and procurement. Saved the company $500k my first year, got raises and bonuses and was loving life. They were hiring again and I wanted to return a favor to my distant cousin and got him on as a level 1 tech. Fast forward about 4-5 years and I find out that he gets promoted to a vacant position as program manager! Hes not very computer savy, not very technical at all but ends up getting the job, a bigger office and then a year later I find out he's making $10,000 a year more salary than me!!

I schedule a sitdown with the president and ask how or why? He simply tells me "thats just the way it is, Pay is based on position and title and there is nothing I can do about it"

Needless to say, I worked a few more weeks and put in my notice! It really degraded me and I was really ticked off, showed up late, missed time etc. But had to pull my head out of my butt because I couldn't get fired!

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: ChevyMan93
Not that i personally was going to get promoted or anything, but where i work, the dumb ones are the ones who get promoted. They literally pick the bottom of the barrel every single time, i think its strategic to always surround themselves with people who are more dumb than they are. I think it should be the other way around, treat people with dignity, and surround yourself with smart people who actually know what they are doing, and they will make you look good. But like has been said here, either pack your stuff and quit, and tell them to kiss your butt on the way out, or suck it up and continue to kick [censored] and take names, no matter if they appreciate it or not. Personally, if i had the money saved back for a few paychecks, and the time, by god i would be tellin em to shove it where the sun dont shine and id be going to find a place where ill be appreciated. Good luck, and always know you at least have a whole forum behind you!

It's a lot easier to find management types than top notch worker bees.

 

[Bud]

Originally Posted By: hatt
Keep current job. Look for new job. Find job. Quit old job.


Exactly. Don't just pick up your tool box and leave, thinking I will show them. Bad move.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I see you mentioned yourself as a medium driver risk, at the time for promotion. But I see no mention of your absenteeism record.
How many days have you been absent in the past two years?
Example: Prior to retirement, I did not miss a work day in the prior 10 years.

I worked thru nagging colds, cuts, bruises, scrapes and soreness. Employers look very closely at show-up rate, when digging for reasons to not promote someone.

BTW..... vehicle insurance companies don't operate/change policies day-to-day,.... even week-to-week. It would have taken at least 30 days to clear your medium risk label and some insurance companies don't change risk policies until the next renewal time for the entire company's drivers fleet.

 

[AZjeff]

Back up. By your admission one thing kept you from getting this promotion. Your speeding tickets. Plural. Are you mad at yourself? You should be.

Look in the mirror and ask yourself if there's anything else in your time there that would make you less than the best man for the Tech II job. Be brutally honest. You can tell BITOG anything or leave out anything but you know what the score is. Having internet buds agreeing you got screwed by the man like a bunch of bobbleheads doesn't do you any good. You might not like what Indydriver said but does any of it strike true?

It sounds like you've worked hard to get yourself in a better position for decent employment and have had a setback. Learn from it. Getting yourself fired is only slightly worse than walking off the job. Follow those choices up with a new speeding ticket or a DUI and you've undone what you've worked hard to improve.

My 2 cents: Take a man pill, do your job right until you find other work then give 2 weeks and move on. Mentally you've already left this job, that's hard to reverse. Life isn't fair, fair is where you go to look at farm animals and eat bad food.

 

[Oldtom]

I feel for you Buddy. I worked in Fraud Prevention for a credit card bank many years ago. I was busting my " Burro " for the company and after 3 years wanted a promotion. Trouble was, promotions were based entirely on who you knew and your ability to play political games. I despise " schmoozing " and just wanted to cut fraud losses.

Management did not want to promote me, even tho I was clearly the most qualified and hardest working. My boss called me in one day and offered me the supervisor position WITH NO INCREASE IN PAY. To her amazement, I took the job! I updated my resume with banking supervisory experience, and found a better job within a few months.

My old employer hired three temps to keep up with my workload My advice to you is very difficult but the best FOR YOU long term. Keep working, try to keep your head in the game, and find another job where you are appreciated. Good Luck

 

[Mr Nice]

Did the higher ups appreciate you loading of software and getting the expensive (non revenue making) equipment that was out of service for weeks up and running ?

I hope you were rewarded and got some necessary recognition.

Sounds like you have to update your resume. There’s LOTS of opportunities out their for a person like you and your skill set.

 

[LeakySeals]

I get it. The noose is tightening around my IT career. Another work Visa contractor has been hired to replace laid off Tom. Has a Masters degree and hungry to gobble up the work at a $15 an hour rate. I make $50 an hour so my days are numbered. One by one we disappear.